on our broadcast tonight, the next to go. it may be libya and it's long-time leader mow maur kamm i gadhafi. his hold on that nation is unraveling. the light police. did you know the time is coming where we have to stop using the regular light bulbs? the law says we have to switch to the new one, but some people say they won't go along with it. making a difference. a woman who got a second chance at life now giving back, you could say with all her heart. and a new sports champion too young to drink the champagne they poured on him. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. it might be safe to assume at this point that moammar gadhafi has a bag packed by the back door with a few essentials in case he needs to leave in a big hurry. in this history-making human wave of unrest that is overtaking the middle east. take a look at these countries, we've indicated open unrest in red, simmering unrest in yellow. libya is a big one to fall and it appears it's well on its way. according to the best available reports in a nation that isn't allowing any kind of media to operate, police have killed hundreds of protesters. government buildings are on fire. libyan officials and soldiers are defecting. and gadhafi's own man at the u.n. here in new york today called his boss a genocidal war criminal. in fact there were reports all day gadhafi had already left. this is history we're watching again, and our own ron allen starts us off from cairo

tonight. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. yes, tonight reports from libya describe a growing rebellion. all day there's been reports the government buildings are in flames in the capital, tripoli. an uprising that has raced across the country, and the regime of more mar gadhafi says they will fight to the finish. to the last man, woman, the last bull elt. these pictures posted on youtube show libyan warplanes indiscriminately bombing protesters in tripoli. more m moammar gadhafi says it's now or never, security forces they say are firing into the crowds. most of the brutality hidden from the outside world. phone lines down. the internet shut off. foreign reporters banned. this woman was reached by phone. >> we saw the airplanes go by over us. we still hear gunshots.

and it's getting -- one of my cousins is a doctor and he had to go to the hospital. they were shooting the doctors and people at the hospital. >> reporter: libya's own representative at the united nations repud yatd gadhafi calling him a war criminal. >> when people are demonstrating in the streets and the militia, this is -- >> reporter: in benghazi, libya's second largest city, epicenter of the uprising, mourners buried their dead, gunned down by troops using heavy weapons. >> pretty much every victim was either shot in the head, chest, neck or on the legs. >> reporter: today in benghazi, celebrating protesters claim they control the city. with the help of sympathetic soldiers who have turned on the regime. gadhafi was last seen sunday on state-run television.

his western educated son, saif al islam went on television to say his father would never flee. this is not egypt or tunisia he said repeatedly, warning of civil war and rivers of blood if the protests continued. today, new signs of cracks from within. two air force colonels, reportedly refused orders, to attack their countrymen and flew their fighter jets to malta to request asylum. several members of gadhafi's government, including diplomats posted abroad, announced support for the people fighting the regime. foreign oil companies began evacuating workers and families. joining in exodus of thousands. >> it's been quite frightening. we've had gunfire in the night. we saw some chaos in the streets. it's getting worse, not better. >> reporter: tonight there are reports the protesters are calling for another night of

defiance. there are also reports of a heavy military presence in the streets warning people to stay in their homes. all that as u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton condemned the violence today saying in part now is the time to end this unacceptable bloodshed. what some are calling the first significant u.s. statement about the crisis. >> ron allen starting off our reporting from there tonight. ron, thanks. the nation of libya is about the size of alaska. it has about the same population as new york city. it's 90% desert and the median age of the population is 24. the young have been driving these revolutions, and in this case they're going up against an icon, a character, a sometimes cartoonish, often outlandish and very well-known world figure. the man who calls himself colonel gadhafi. here is nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: moammar gadhafi has always been ex17 particular but on his most recent trip to the

united nations two years ago he outdid himself. he raged on for 95 minutes and 8 seconds waving a copy of the u.n. charter and then pretending to rip it up. cables show that gadhafi fears flying over water, prefers staying on the ground floor, and almost never travels without his trusted ukrainian nurse. despite his bizarre behavior, less than two years ago he was exchanging handshakes and dining with president obama and other leaders at an economic summit. and in 2006 it was george w. bush's state department that removed libya from its list of nations that sponsor terror. gadhafi had agreed to end a suspected nuclear program, and turned his equipment over to the u.s. he also agreed to pay millions of dollars to the families of victims of pan am 103, bombed by libyan agents in 1989. it was a diplomatic truce after years of hostility. in 1986 libya was accused of bombing a berlin nightclub

frequented by u.s. soldiers. ronald reagan retaliated, ordering an air strike against gadhafi's tent, accidentally killing his young daughter. gadhafi escaped unharmed. >> today we have done what we had to do. if necessary, we shall do it again. >> reporter: all through the 1980s, the u.s. said gadhafi was letting plo and ira terrorists train in libyan terror camps. his hold on his people was absolute. gadhafi's iron grip began when i overthrew the king in 1969. now gadhafi himself appears close to being on the losing end of another historic change. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. elsewhere in the arab world, the wave of anti-government protests shows no signs of letting up. today in yemen, tens of thousands of people occupied central squares in four cities, including the capital, demanding the president step down.

across the arabian peninsula in bahrain, thousands remain camped out in pearl square, the scene of bloody clashes last week. a prominent opposition leader has said he will return to the emirate tomorrow from a self-imposed exile. in morocco, one day after the first protests erupted there, the king said he will not yield to what he called demagogue ry. and would you believe china, an attempt to launch a jasmine revolution was stamped out with a heavy police presence and a roundup of activists. back to this country and the budget standoff in wisconsin. that could be a preview of battles to come in other states that have to fix the gaping holes in their budgets. this morning as state union employees and their supporters once again took up the protest at their positions at the capitol, wisconsin's governor said on msnbc he is not a union

buster, he's a budget balancer. our own mike taibbi is in madison, wisconsin, for us. >> reporter: once again today the capitol rotunda was packed with pro-union protesters. some from out of state but most apparently from wisconsin, trying to force governor scott walker to compromise. several times today he said he won't. >> to get wisconsin working again, we've got to have a budget that's balanced. >> reporter: walker is telling the unions they'll have to pay more toward their pensions and health plans, about 8% of their take-home pay on average, and must surrender their collective bargaining power in all areas except wages in order to close the $3.6 billion budget gap. employee unions say they'll consider everything except the loss of bargaining power. >> collective bargaining is the bedrock of what a union is all about. >> reporter: on saturday, 70,000 protesters jammed the capitol. some anti-union common too, and the 14 democratic senators left

the state. >> he's asking us to come back to vote on something that's not goes negotiable. >> we've met the governor halfway. it's time for the governor to step up and do his responsibility as a leader of the state. >> reporter: this afternoon i heard one protest leader talk to people in the rotunda. you better get used to the idea this bill will pass, the republicans simply have the votes. you know the republican governors in other beleaguered states are watching closely. >> mike, thanks. this was a cold and icy holiday monday for the folks in much of the upper midwest. here in the northeast, we got a touch of it early this morning and now word of a new spring forecast that is not what a lot of winter weary americans were hoping for. and millions of americans need a break. so does their property. the meteorologist consortium called wsi is predicting what it

calls a notably cold spring for the entire northern half of the u.s. but let's not get ahead of ourselves. we still have tonight and tomorrow to worry about. for that we want to go to weather channel meteorologist mike seidel. mike, good evening in minneapolis. >> reporter: good evening, brian. winter made an expected but unwanted return for many of us who are just plain tired of the snow and ice this winter. here in the twin cities, 13 inches have fallen so far, the biggest storm on record this month. you can see this morning the bobcats, a platoon of them, made quick work. powder. green bay and detroit were also hit by double-digit snowfalls and syracuse shoveled their 150th inch of snow this morning. snow will pile up, enough to shovel in d.c. and baltimore, two rare cities running below average in snowfall. brian, this afternoon, mcallen, texas, hit 94 degrees. makes you wonder if they're complaining about the heat today down along the rio grande.

back to you. >> it's been an unbelievable winter around these parts. mike seidel in the twin cities. mike, thank you as always. when our broadcast continues on this holiday monday night, did you know the law is after your light bulbs? the mandatory switch over to the new bulbs is coming, but some folks say they're not letting go of the old ones. later, how a woman who once had it all then nearly lost it is making a difference by giving others their own second chance. , textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 80% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. [ male announcer ] when the food we eat has nutritional gaps... so do we. but with more key nutrients than one-a-day essential,

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the switch. >> if you're like me, haven't you thought of a light bulb as just a light bulb? >> reporter: at 131 years old, thomas edison's bright idea may be due for a makeover, but the government-mandated transition, to the cfl, isn't winning many style points. >> do they sell regular light bulbs now? >> oh, no, no, you can buy the regular ones. >> reporter: jorge fernandez is the lighting buyer for home depot. he thinks the cfl should be an easy sell. >> this compact fluorescent light bulb costs about $1.50 and lasts seven to nine years and uses 75% less energy than the incan definite. >> reporter: that's not good enough for a growing group of vocal consumers. >> i really like light to turn on when i turn the switch. >> reporter: home design columnist marnie jameson is doing a slow burn at the time it takes cfls to warm up and the

light they give off. >> if one crashes on my kitchen counter, i've got mercury poisoning. >> reporter: not quite. glass thermometers have 100 times more mercury than a cfl, according to underwriters laboratories. if one breaks, the environmental protection agency advises airing out the room, sweeping up the debris, placing it in a sealable container and putting it in the trash outside. hardly reassuring. some worry what cfls will do to our landfills. >> here's my horde. >> reporter: so jameson is not convinced. >> i'm going to stockpile the intodi incan definite bulb. >> reporter: it was signed into lie by president george w. bush. but in 2011 the light bulb is a political football. >> instead of a leaner, smarter government, we bought a bureaucracy that now tells us which light bulbs to buy. >> reporter: for light bulb makers like ge, a part owner of

nbc universal, the phase-out begins next year. by 2014, incan definites will no longer be on store shelves. the light bulb factory in virginia last year shut down and 200 employees were put out of work. now some in the federal government think they have a better idea. they want to restore freedom of choice to america's lighting department. >> i don't think that's appropriate. >> reporter: texas congressman joe barton is co-sponsoring legislation to repeal the change. >> it's just kind of a politically correct do-gooder issue. we don't think the government needs to mess in that area. >> reporter: in the detroit suburb of roseville, it doesn't take an act of congress just to price cut to convince some consumers. so now when these are comparable, you're selling cfls at a rate of three to one? >> about three to one with the pricing, yes. >> reporter: dick bevington is

plugged isn't. >> how many do you have in your house? >> everywhere i can put them in a socket, that's where they're at. >> reporter: and you're counting your pennies? >> yes. i'm retire, so i have to count them. >> reporter: an enlightening debate that has some taking stock, and others stocking up. anne thompson, nbc news, roseville, michigan. when we come back here tonight, how did you celebrate your 20th birthday? bet it wasn't like this kid. [ woman ] i had this deep, radiating pain everywhere... and i wondered what it was. i found out that connected to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and less pain means i can do more with the ones i love. [ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression,

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itself the biggest spectator sport in the nation, nascar, had its best day yesterday in about a decade. mostly because of a young man just two decades old. yesterday was the 53rd running of the great american race, the daytona 500. and while it started out somber as the tenth anniversary of the death of a beloved icon, the rest of the day belonged to a young man in a big hurry, the youngest man ever to win the big one. >> unbelievable! >> at just 20 years of age, trevor bayne rocketed past 42 other drivers to win the granddaddy of them all, the daytona 500. he was just 19 going into this past weekend, and he's still not old enough to drink the champagne that was sprayed on him in victory lane. it was just his second big league race. he came up the way most do, go-carts at first, then local small tracks in his home state of tennessee. a modest kid who led his team in

prayer before the race. >> i keep thinking i'm dreaming, i really do. >> trevor bayne survived the race as much as he won it. because of a quirk of the track and the cars, a strange aerodynamic pattern developed in practice. the drivers found they did better in pairs of two, with one car plastered up against the back bumper of the other. the car doing the pushing was in turn pulled along in the draft of air. it led to a harrowing race. the lead changed a record 74 times, and earlier on the wreck they called the big one. nascar now has a young new star. the irony is, they lost their last big star ten years ago. under deep blue skies, every one of the 180,000 fans knew what yesterday was, the tenth anniversary of the death of dale earnhardt, the driver of the iconic black number 3 car. so on the third lap, the fans

fell silent and 180,000 people held up three fingers in tribute to the man who's been gone ten years now. little did anyone know the race would be won by a kid who was just ten himself when dale earnhardt died. and this youngest man ever to win the 500 did it with the oldest established team in nascar, the legendary wood brothers. they date back to the post-moonshine era and great drivers like tiny lund. a.j. for jncht a.j.foit, junior johnson and now the list is still growing. converting a new lease on life into making a difference for others. r these nasal allerg. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris. to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include

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paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out. getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today. finally here tonight, a california woman who is making a difference. she'd had everything she'd ever wanted in her life until a sudden, serious illness threatened to take it all away. a second chance brought her back. now she isiving back. her story tonight from nbc's kristen welker in fillmore, california. >> reporter: ava kauffman was once a professional dancer who toured the world.

>> beautiful. >> reporter: at age 47, she fulfilled her biggest dream in life, becoming a mother. >> i adopted her when she was 12 hours old, and i believe that we were just meant to be together. >> reporter: jade is now 12 years old, and a skilled equestrian. ava had it all. but in 2008, her life was shattered by a mysterious illness. her once tiny frame ballooned to more than 200 pounds. >> i had gotten so weak that i was walking with a walker. >> reporter: fearing she was dying and concerned for jade's future, ava turned to a friend. >> i said you have to promise me that you'll make sure nothing happens to jade. >> reporter: doctors diagnosed her with a rare autoimmune disease. her heart was failing. >> she developed heart failure very rapidly and very severely. she was the sickest of the sick. >> reporter: and then, a moment that changed everything. doctors found a heart for ava. the transplant took place on her

birthday. and when she woke up, ava made this promise. >> i just promised god that if he would let me come back and be jade's mother, that i would spend the rest of my life trying to help people. >> reporter: and she's kept her promise. >> i had a heart transplant two years ago. so this is a really important decision. >> reporter: ava now dedicates her free time to teaching high school students about the importance of organ donation. and comforts people who are waiting for new hearts, like earl. ava spent months at earl's bedside as he waited for his transplant. >> just made me believe i was going to make it through. >> you just appreciate everything more. >> reporter: doctors say her recovery is a miracle. but for ava, the real miracle is having a new life with jade. kristen welker, nbc news, fillmore, california. and that is our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being here with us

as we begin a new week. i'm brian williams. we, as always, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com